Need a ride from the airport? You probably don’t know this, but on the way to pick you up, I get into the international lane and stay there as long as I can before I dart over to the lane that spills into the domestic pick-up line. For that brief moment, I imagine my next destination just over the horizon. I love, love, love new places and faces. I love the history, the lessons and the lives I cross on my journey, collecting stories and making them mine. Travelling makes you smart and aware just how small a piece we really are in the greatness of creation.

Next stop: Southeast Asia

Sa-wut-dee! (Hello in Thai, a tonal language meaning that pitch can change the meaning of a word.) I’m about to turn my world upside down, literally. I’m heading to the other side of the Earth to see ancient temples before they are swallowed by the hungry jungle of time. I wish to see the floating markets that confound the mind with Venice-like sway. And then there’s my own personal quest to solve the decades-old mystery of Jim Thompson who disappeared on Easter Sunday in 1967 while on a walk in the Cameron Highlands. He moved to Bangkok in 1945 as the head of an earlier version of our CIA. It’s like Bourne Supremacy without Dolby or Damon. I have my work cut out for me.

Living the dream

I’ve probably been there: 6 of the 7 continents (and you know which one I’m missing cause traveling to the ice bin of the world’s freezer takes a coat I don’t yet have) and most of the countries in Africa. Still, I have only begun. This year is fresh and exciting because it is my maiden voyage as a single (single supplement in the world of travel means I pay more; just saying). Prior to now, I travelled in a pack of varying size called a family. The number of kids ebbed through the years as they grew into young adults with their own families. The funniest Thanksgiving stories now come from those travels. What was once the bain on their existence (why can’t we just stay home like the other kids!?) are now their best times. Go figure. I think the past belongs in the past and the future is for living, but a link to the old site is below for those who know the password.